And the winner is.....

I'm happy to announce that Vicky Merritt is the winner of my first blog contest.  She'll be receiving the Loves Me desinger series paper and Flirty ribbon.  Congratulations!                                          

Kim Norris (Verda's daughter) hosted a Stamp-a-Stack last night at her home in Noblesville.  We had a great time creating all of the cards you see above!  I'll be repeating this class on Friday, March 16th at the Stamp Shack.  There are still a few seats remaining, so if you would like to attend just let me know.

And remember if you see a class that you would like to attend, but have a scheduling conflict, I'm happy to teach any class to groups of 5 or more and we can schedule a time and location that is convenient for YOU!  Just ask!

Be sure to visit me at the Shine 99 Women's Fair at Johnanning Civic Center on Saturday, March 17th.  Mention this website and you'll also receive a free gift from me!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

Around the House....Shaving Cream

Today I'll be featuring the first in a series of tutorials called "Around the House".  You'll be amazed at how many household items you can use to create wonderful stamped artwork!

It's time to steal your husband's shaving cream.  The best kind of shaving cream for this technique is fragrance-free and CHEAP.  I usually buy a $1 can at the dollar store to use in workshops and I buy "better" shaving cream for the hubby.  However, I think my hubby ran out of his brand and found my stash.  So, I had to "borrow" it for this tutorial....be prepared for some strange looks from the man in your life.

You'll need to gather the following items:  shaving cream, 1-3 classic ink re-inkers (I used regal rose and rose red), wax paper or a paper plate, small sheets of white cardstock, plastic knife, and paper towels.

Dispense a generous amount of the shaving cream onto wax paper or a paper plate.

                                                Place several drops of the re-inkers randomly over your pile of shaving cream.  Swirl it gently with your knife.  Do not mix completely or your cardstock will not have a swirled effect.

Push your cardstock straight down into the shaving cream.  Lift it up gently, then remove all excess shaving cream.  The little scrapers from Pampered Chef are great for this!  I use paper towels, but it's a little messy.  Allow your paper time to dry.  You can repeat this several times with the same pile of shaving cream.  Each time will produce a completely different look!

You can stamp directly on the shaving cream paper or simply use it as a background piece. 

Here is my completed shaving cream card (click on the image for a closer look).  I stamped "love" from the Wonderful Words stamp set in basic black ink directly on the shaving cream paper.  The hearts are from the Happy Hearts stamp set, and the saying "my heart is with you" is from the Small Sayings stamp set that is featured in the Winter Mini catalog.

I used Whisper White, Basic Black, Regal Rose, and Rose Red cardstock, and the coordinating classic ink pads.  Black gingham ribbon and dimensionals complete the look.

All images copywrite Stampin' UP! 2007

Now it's your turn! Kids love this technique, so why not try it together?  If you make something using this technique, be sure to send me a picture.  I may feature it on this site.

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

                                                      

I'm Back!!!!!

I know it's been quite awhile since I've posted anything.  It's been a wild month!  Two days before I left for Leadership Conference(January 11-13), I broke my little toe.  I thought, "Wow! What an awful thing to happen.....I can hardly walk and I'm going to be walking through airports and convention centers all week!".  Luckily, the pain was manageable by the time I left (read: I was on a bit of pain medication).

However, that wasn't the worst thing!  The day after we arrived in Houston, my eardrum ruptured.  Now, all of my medical books state that this is not a painful event.  Well, they are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!  It has taken 2 rounds of antibiotics and nearly 4 weeks for me to feel somewhat back to normal.  I definitely have some hearing loss, but it'll be a bit longer for us to know how much of it is permanent.

So, you know how bad things always come in threes?  I've been waiting patiently, not sure that I could handle anything else.  Well, yesterday it happened!  I was making tea and the glass pitcher it was in broke, spilling boiling water everywhere.  It could have been worse, but I burned a nice portion of my belly.  I've injured the top and bottom, so why not hit the middle now?

Now that my third affliction has occurred, I can finally share with you some of the fun things we did at Leadership conference.  We received a nice bag and the stamp set Doodle This at check-in.  The stamp set will be available beginning March 1st and is featured in the Spring 2007 mini catalog which many of you will be receiving in the mail shortly.  We were able to make 4 projects with our new stamp set.  Tiffany and I liked 3 of the projects so much, that we decided to offer a stamp camp to our customers in March so that you can make these adorable projects for yourself.

The stamp camp is scheduled for Saturday, March 24th.  More details can be found by clicking on My Events.

I'll be sharing a few more project ideas from Leadership with you later this week, so be sure to check in.

On a final note, I am modifying this month's contest.  To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of this message.  Each commenter will receive 1 entry into a drawing to receive the Loves Me designer series paper and Flirty ribbon.  Drawing will be held on February 26th and the winner will be announced here.

Have a fantastic week!

Melissa

My Christmas Present

This year, Stampin' Up! sent us a nice surprise.....all demonstrators received the Polka Dots and Paisley stamp set.  It's very cute and will be featured in the upcoming Spring Mini Catalog, available March 1st.

I made this 4" square card to swap at Leadership Conference this week and used my new stamp set.  LOVE IT!!!

Stampin' Up! has also just announced that all new demonstrators that sign up in January or February will also receive this set in their kits!  If you'd like to find out more, I'll be having an Opportunity Night this Monday, January 15th from 7pm-8pm at the stamp shack.  Everyone is invited!  Feel free to contact me for more info or check my events calendar for future opportunity nights.

Happy Stampin'
Melissa

Here's what you missed......

If you didn't attend the open house this past weekend, here are pictures of the Make & Takes that we did.

Be sure to check my events page regularly.  There is always something fun to do!  You can also book an in-home workshop or class if my dates and times are not convenient for you!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

Loves Me Journal & My 1st Contest

Yesterday, I told you how much I love the new designer series paper and Flirty ribbon.  Here is another project that I did with the Loves Me paper, On Board chipboard accents, an On Board journal, and the ribbon.

I'll have this journal on display at my open house this weekend if you'd like to take a closer look.  It turned out pretty cute, don't you agree?

So how would you like to receive the Loves Me designer series paper and Flirty ribbon for FREE?  From now until February 25th, you can enter my 1st contest to win both of these items.  I will draw one name on February 26th and will announce the winner here.  Here's what you need to do to enter:

• Click on the comments section below and add your full name to let me know you've been here.



• Sign up for the email updates in the box on the left hand side.

If there are more than 75 names, I will draw 2 names.  So refer your friends!

I hope your new year starts off great!  Happy Stampin'!

Melissa

Clipboard Calendars

For the past 2 years, I have hosted a Christmas party for the demonstrators in my downline.  This is such a fun event and everyone really looks forward to it.  Each demonstrator brings a hand-stamped gift to exchange, there is a special make & take project, and of course...we eat!  I hope to share the photos of the gift exchange items with you soon, but for now, I'll share what we did as a make & take.

Tiffany Cline designed this fun clipboard calendar.  We each got to choose our own Spring Showers designer series paper and ribbon to decorate the clipboard.  The papers were adhered using Modge Podge.  Then we stamped the "2007" using a variety of stamping techniques--kissing, masking, direct to paper, and stamp-a-ma-jig positioning.  The bracket is from the On Board Simon Lower chipboard assortment available in the 2006-2007 Idea Book & Catalog on page 215.  We inked the brackets with craft ink, poured crystal clear embossing powder over the ink, then heated it to a shiny finish with the heat tool.  Add the ribbons and the pre-printed calendar pages, and you've got a great gift item!

So when I got home, I decided to make another one with the Loves Me designer series paper from the Winter Mini catalog.  As you'll soon figure out, I absolutely LOVE this new paper and the coordinating Flirty ribbon! I'll be showing you all the fun things that I have made with these two new items in the next week, so stay tuned.

I'll be featuring the clipboard calendar project at my monthly Stamp-n-Scrap club in January.  If you'd like more information on this great new club, click on the My Specials link in the left hand column.

This blog is a place for you to come and visit whenever you like.  I've been wanting to do this for a while and finally just sat down and told myself to get it done!

I'll be posting pictures of projects that I'm working on, techniques, tips, ideas, and more.

I hope that you'll find some inspiration here, just as I'll find inspriation posting for you all. There's also a feature where you can leave comments, so if you ever have anything to say to a post, make sure you comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Happy Stampin'!

Melissa